New powers allow police to pinpoint computers used by terrorists and child abusers

NEW powers will allow police to pinpoint the location of computers used by terrorists and child abusers.

The Home Secretary will annouce measures to force ISPs to keep records for a year

Home Secretary Theresa May will announce measures, to be included in the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, which will force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to keep details for a year that can be used in criminal inquiries.

Until now ISPs have not had to keep logs of which devices use specific Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, the codes that identify computers online.

The new law will require ISPs to keep records of the use of IP addresses, making it easier for the police to match the addresses to individuals.

The proposed measures would reduce the risk of terrorism by improving the ability of the police and other agencies to identify terror suspects who may be communicating with each other via the internet.

It would also help to identify and prosecute organised criminals, cyber bullies and computer hackers.

Mrs May said: “The Bill provides the opportunity to resolve the very real problems that exist around IP resolution and is a step towards bridging the overall communications data capability gap.”

However, Mrs May reiterated her support for the so-called Snoopers’ Charter that would give law enforcement agencies the power to access and store details of an individual’s online activity to see which websites they have been accessing.

It is a matter of national security and we must keep on making the case for the Communications Bill

Theresa May

“It is a matter of national security and we must keep on making the case for the Communications Data Bill,” she insisted.

The announcement of these new powers comes just weeks after a feud erupted between Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Mrs May, who accused the Lib Dems of putting children’s lives at risk by opposing the Bill.

In a speech to the Conservative Party Conference last month in Birmingham, Mrs May said over a six month period the National Crime Agency estimated it dropped at least 20 cases due to missing communications data.

She said 13 were “threat-tolife cases in which a child was judged to be at risk of imminent harm”. Mrs May said: “The solution to this crisis of national security was the Communications Data Bill. But two years ago, it was torpedoed by the Liberal Democrats.”

In response Mr Clegg, who called the row a “new low” for the Coalition, said the NCA had been forced to drop some of the cases because IP addresses were not properly matched to individual mobile devices.

He called for the loophole to be shut and accused the Home Office of dragging its feet. Last night the Lib Dems welcomed the new powers, as they declared the Snoopers’ Charter “dead and buried”.

A party spokesman said: “This is exactly the kind of thing that we need, rather than proposing an unnecessary, unworkable and disproportionate Snoopers’ Charter.

“There is absolutely no chance of that illiberal Bill coming back under the Coalition Government. It’s dead and buried."